The Book and the Transformation of Britain c. 550-1050

A Study in Written and Visual Literacy and Orality

Distributed for British Library

Cloth $70.00ISBN: 9780712358286
Published
February 2012
For sale in North and South America only

Between 550 and 1050 AD, the world of late Roman Antiquity was utterly transformed, becoming a patchwork region of independent states that eventually coalesced into empires and nations, each with distinct, emerging identities. In The Book and the Transformation of Britain, esteemed medievalist Michelle P. Brown explores the impact of this transformative era in British history by looking at the manuscripts and written records that were produced during that time.

Brown’s analysis of the changing of the British Isles pays particular attention to the role of the manuscript book, which was one of the greatest and most effective agents of change—one that also managed to preserve tradition. Through a close examination of written volumes and documents, Brown pieces together a fascinating and highly illustrated account of the literary culture of the time, including levels of literacy and its social perception.

1. Conversion: Scribes, the Sacred and Social Change From Pamphlet to Pandect: the Codex and the Codification of Scripture The Book as Speculum of the Transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages Visualising Sound in Graphic Form: New Ways of Teaching and Learning Disseminating Scripture: Being the Book—the Scribe as Evangelist 2. Creating communities of reading The Rise of Written Vernacular Languages Women and the Book in the pre-Alfredian Era Inscriptions—words to be seen and not heard? Books and other Icons 3. Language, literature and libraries The Impetus of Incomers Official Intervention? Assessing the Alfredian Contribution Libraries: the Collection and Retention of Cultural Memory Women and other Bibliophiles The Last Word

Notes Bibliography List of Illustrations Index

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